Back in his days as Finland’s king of goaltenders, Boston Bruins netminder Tim Thomas was backed up by a young up-and-comer named Niklas Backstrom. These days you know Backstrom as the 31-year-old No. 1 netminder of the Minnesota Wild who just signed a four-year, $24 million contract extension to stay in the Twin Cities.

Thomas was heartened by his former teammate’s accomplishment.

“It’s good to see him get rewarded,” Thomas told TheBruinsBlog.net. “He took a long road to the NHL also. And it’s good to see him get rewarded for all his hard work. I’ve known him since he was 18, 19 years old. He was always a hard-working kid.”

It would seem that Backstrom’s contract would be a solid target for Thomas’ representatives when and if the 34-year-old hits the unrestricted free agent market this summer. As has been his stance all season, Thomas would only offer “no comment” on his contract situation when asked about Backstrom’s deal as a solid ballpark figure for his negotiations to aim for.